FFF Interview: Kip from Pains of Being Pure at Heart

We’ve long supported the work of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  They captured our attention early on, changed some things going forward, and still won us over with every little release.  They’re one of the acts at Fun Fun Fun Fest we’re really looking forward to seeing, so we caught up with Kip via the Interwebs in order to toss together a quick interview discussing the festival and the expanded release of their latest album, Days of Abandon. 

ATH:  You just released the deluxe edition of Days of Abandon that included a couple extra tracks that didn’t make it onto the LP that came out back in May. While the record without those extra tracks feels like a complete story, was it difficult to pick which songs made the cut?

Kip:  I never want our 11th best song to be on the record. I want each song to work with the others and create the right kind of balance – to say something complete and true. It’s hard sometimes to have perspective when figuring out what needs to be on the record. I wrote about some those issues here. But though I do care for these extra songs, I don’t think they would have added anything exceptional to “Days of Abandon,”

ATH:    What gave way to the lighter, airy progression of your sound over the last three albums?

Kip: I’ve always believed Pains is a pop band that makes pop songs. It seems unnecessary when people place some modifier (dream, indie, shoegaze) before the word “pop.”

But I also think it’s kind of boring to equate “important” music with boys, playing loud and screaming in perpetual anguish. I want our songs to be emotional, immediate and vital – and I don’t think you have to step on a fuzz pedal every 12 seconds to do that. I think bands like The Sundays, Orange Juice and Everything But the Girl were subversive and cool, while so much of grunge (and its many contemporary reiterations)  just feels like empty hetero tantrums about unrequited boners.

ATH:    If you had to pick a favorite track from the new album, which one would it be and why?

Kip: I always like songs that say the most with the least. I think “Art Smock” captures the spirit of this record.

ATH:    Favorite way to pass the time while traveling on tour?

Kip: I drive the van – that passes almost all the time.

ATH:   At your dream festival, who is/are the headliner(s)?

Kip: Tori Amos, T. Rex, Destroyer and The Sundays.

ATH:   You guys come through Austin fairly frequently…anything about the city you discovered last go-round that you’re excited to revisit? Permanent mainstays?

Kip: Well, this band I love called “Literature” used to live in Austin but now they don’t anymore. Most of our experiences of Austin come around SXSW, which is an unfair way to judge the city. Mexican Breakfast is pretty cool – we don’t have that back home, so yeah – bring on the Migas!

ATH:   You play on Saturday at FFF Fest at 4:40pm on the Orange stage and later that night at 10:00pm at the Mohawk for FFF Nites—is there any difference in the way you approach your festival set versus a club setting?

Kip: No. As long as you play with all your heart, it’ll be good.